ROV

Coote and Condon snare podium places at the ‘Creek’

YRD supported riders Mason Coote and Sam Condon both snared podium finishes at the sixth round of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) in the Australian Supersport Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park on the weekend.

Taking back-to-back podium round finishes was 24-year-old Coote who guided his AARK Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 to two third place finishes which handed him second place for the round.

Coote, who qualified in fifth place with a time of 1min34.671 expressed after qualifying that he would have liked to have been on the front row but did point out that he has always raced better than he qualifies.

True to his word, in race one he was down as far as seventh on the opening lap, but by lap seven he managed to move his way to fourth place, where he would remain for the remainder of the race. However, due to a fellow competitor in front of Coote being handed a ten second penalty for jumping the start, it lifted Coote into third place.

Race two saw Coote having a good fight out on track, but by lap nine was when he managed to consolidate third position on track and finish third second for the round, claiming 36-points in total.

“It’s been an incredible weekend,” beamed Coote after race two. “It’s the first time in a long time since the AARK Racing team and I have managed to produce a double podium finish with a 3-3 result and make it back-to-back round podiums.

“With the championship being put beyond reach, Coote is looking to consolidate second place in the championship.

Condon finished four points behind Coote for the round, after he strung together a 4-6 result from the seventh row of the grid.

Condon, who sits in fourth place in the championship fight, 10.5-points behind third place explained that the weekend had been really good as he didn’t expect to come out of the round with podium finish.

One slender point behind Condon was Coopers HXR Yamaha’s Chris Quinn, who finished with a 7-4 result.

Meanwhile, YRT supported Superbike rider Cru Halliday walked away from his home round tied fourth, but in fifth place with a 7-6 result with 29-points to his name.

The Camden based rider wasn’t the happiest with his result, as he did come into the weekend expecting to do better than what he did on race day.

“We have had a few problems throughout the day,” explained Halliday.

“That’s racing but. Despite having bad results, a fifth place is OK for the championship as an overall. We had riders in front of us in the championship who fell off today, which is unfortunate. However, you have to stay consistent right to the end of the championship. So, to take fifth place today and remain in sixth place in the championship is probably the only good thing we can take out of the today.”

Halliday is aiming for a podium place at Phillip Island, as it would be a great result for the 29-year-old and his privateer team.

“Obviously I would like to win it, but an overall podium result would be a great way to cap off the season for myself, the team and our sponsors,” concluded Halliday, who sits in sixth place in the championship fight, just five points behind JD Racing’s Daniel Falzon.